Circles of Separation: Contract

Whenever you feel a spark of love or goodwill towards another person, feed it so that it will grow.

Chapter 68: Being Watched

Another week had passed. Still no word from Amira. Gabriel drove to Waldmeer again. As he entered the bungalow, he had the uneasy feeling of being watched. He looked at the stacked boxes from the Darnall Curiosity Shop. I don’t know why Amira has to keep all this junk from her great aunts, he thought. He moved closer to the stack and was about to open one of the boxes when he heard a loud call from the forest. Walking to the door, he spotted two eagles, in a nearby tree, gazing at him.

“Who are you?” said a woman at Amira’s back door.

“Who are you?” asked Gabriel in surprise. The woman was about forty with dark, curly hair and the sort of focused, intelligent eyes that belong to a driven, uncompromising person.

“My name is Eve,” said the woman. “I am the granddaughter of Amira’s Great Aunt Evanora.”

Amira had never mentioned Eve to him but Gabriel felt he should be friendly, although he instantly disliked her. “I’m Gabriel,” he said. “I sometimes use the bungalow. Where is Amira?”

“She’s not coming back,” said Eve emotionlessly. “I am the new owner of the house.” She waved a piece of paper at Gabriel. “And by the way,” continued Eve, “you are no longer welcome in the bungalow.” She opened the back door and said over her shoulder, “Have a good day.”

Amira’s back garden in Waldmeer.

Chapter 69: Currency

Back in the Borderfirma Lowlands:

Although Lady Faith did not know where Aristotle was in the Lowlands, she knew that, sooner or later, Evanora would come to her.

“Hello Faith,” said Evanora.

“Hello Lady Evanora,” said Lady Faith.

“Let’s not chitchat,” said Evanora. “You want your son back. There is a price.”

“Yes. I am here,” said Lady Faith implying that she would pay whatever the price was. “What is it that you want? My life for his?”

“Oh no,” laughed Evanora. “I want something much more valuable than your life. I want your ability to manifest on Earth in human form.” Although Evanora had the ability to travel to Earth in spirit form, unlike Lady Faith, she could not appear there in human form. She had used her one Earth life as Amira’s Great Aunt Evanora years ago.

“I see,” said Lady Faith quietly. It was a big price. “I am able to visit many dimensions,” said Lady Faith tactfully. “Earth is of no particular value.”

Evanora snarled. “Earth,” she demanded. “Earth is what I want.”

“As you wish,” said Lady Faith. “My ability to travel to Earth, as a human, in exchange for my son.” She added, “I want him first.” Evanora pointed behind her. Aristotle was sitting, distressed but unharmed, on a hill of large, flat rocks not far away. Lady Faith ran to him and pulled him to her.

The large, flat rocks where Aristotle waited to be rescued.

“You have your precious boy,” said Evanora. “Now give me Earth.” Lady Faith closed her eyes, touched her forehead lightly, and then touched Evanora’s forehead. Evanora smiled and turned to leave. “Oh, one more thing,” said Evanora. “Sign this.” It was a contract of sale for Amira’s Waldmeer home. “You won’t need it anymore but I will.” Lady Faith signed the piece of paper. “Earth people think they own things by signing papers,” said Evanora. “Stupid, I know, but that’s what they do.”

Lady Faith and Aristotle found themselves at the intersection of the Borderfirma Lowlands and the Borderfirma Mountains. “We are in home territory,” said Lady Faith. “Safe and sound.”

“But Mummy,” said Aristotle, “you gave away your power to return to Earth.”

“Well then,” said Lady Faith brightly, “we can all have a wonderful time together with Odin and Nina in the Great Valley.”

“Let’s hurry home before it gets dark,” said Odin who was at the edge of the forest where he had been waiting for them. “Nina will have our dinner cooking on the wood stove and we don’t want to miss it.”

Cooking in Nina and Odin’s cottage in the Great Valley of the Borderfirma Mountains.

Chapter 70: Cherish

Gabriel stood outside Amira’s garden gate wondering what to do. A car pulled up behind him. “Do you know where Amira is?” asked Farkas through the open car window. “I haven’t seen her in weeks.”

“No,” said Gabriel. “Apparently, she sold her house to her cousin.”

“That dark-haired woman?” asked Farkas who had seen the new resident a few times over the last couple of days. He also disliked her. “Where has Amira gone?”

“I don’t know,” repeated Gabriel less patiently this time. “I went to Erdo but he wasn’t much help.”

After a thoughtful pause, Farkas said, “I’ll go see him. I used to work for him. He’ll talk to me… I think.”

On the way to Erdo, Farkas couldn’t help feeling a sense of satisfaction that Gabriel and Amira hadn’t quite worked out together. He knew he shouldn’t feel like that but he did. Erdo was waiting for Farkas at the lake. For all Farkas’s issues, Erdo was generally not harsh with him. He knew the effort it took for Farkas to come to him at all. That had a lot of karmic merit. He also did not want to sabotage Farkas’s progress by upsetting him unnecessarily. He saved that for when it was really needed.

“It is true that she has gone away,” said Erdo. “I’m sorry. As I understand, she is safe. I do not know if she will be returning. As she is safe and there is nothing else we can do about it, I suggest that we get on with life and concentrate on our own mental practices.” It wasn’t Erdo who needed the mental practice but he included himself by way of enticing Farkas into being interested in seeing life as an opportunity to practise things that would make him happier.

“Whenever you feel a spark of love or goodwill towards another person – male, female, young or old – feed it so that it will grow,” said Erdo. “It is not about finding the right person or people. People are not that right,” he laughed. “Even if they start out right, we soon have a litany of complaints. The only answer is to be the right person ourselves. Then everything will have a tendency to work together in a good way.” Erdo stretched towards the sky as if he was drawing into his ageless body the sunlight and pure forest air. “And when it does work,” continued Erdo, “don’t then be waving contracts, written or invisible, in front of people. Love that controls is not love but a contract. It says, You must love me in this way not I love you. You have your freedom and life has its own justice so you don’t need to jump into the driving seat before the other person has an opportunity to. Just love. Love freely and genuinely. Love openly and with courage. And forgive, forgive, forgive. People are a mass of problems. Stop remembering them all or there will be no room to create the beautiful moments you wish to cherish in your soul.”